Eye set



I Patent Jan. .8, 1929..

SAMUEL MARCUS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO. MARKON MFG. 00., INQ,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COR]? ORA'IION OF NEW YORK.

' EYE sii'r.

Application filed May 7, 1927. Serial No. 189,517.

This invention relates to eye sets for dolls,

toys, and similar articles, the present device being in the nature of an improvement over the structure shown and described in the ending application of Alexander Konoff geri'al Number 85,153, filed February 1st,

1 A further object is to provide means for attaching a gravity control to eye, shells which are made of celluloid or other similar material.

A further object is to provide simple and practical means to maintain celluloid eye shells permanently against distortion, and to at the same time, if desired, attach a gravity control thereto.

A further detailed object is toso arrange the parts that eyes of the completed'eye set are adapted to have a rolling motion as well as the more common place opening and closing movement.

Other objects and-aims of the 1nvent1on, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, comb1nat1ons,

arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention and the scope of'protection contemplated w1ll be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention:-'

Fig. 1 is a rear elevational view of an eye set constructed in accordance with this indetail is merely an exemplary form of the invention, the reference character L indicatesthe usual bracket member by means of which the eye set is intended to be connected with an inner surface portion of a doll in any well known manner.

- The reference character G indicates the cross, or supporting, rod, which is rotatably mounted upon the bracket L and which carries at its opposite ends the tWo eyes as The rod G is shown as having fixed thereto a pendant arm 1 at'its central portion, said arm being suitably bent and formed so that its end portion as 2 is adapted to abut against an inner surface as 3 of the doll head 4 at a proper point to limit-rotary movement of the rod G in one direction. This arm is constructed so that it may be bent by a workman when and as required to alter the exact limit'of rotation of said rod.

The rod. G may have fixed thereto a second and shorter arm 5, as an extension of the same piece of material as constitutes the arm 1 or not as preferred. The arm 5. is shown as moving within a slot 6 provided in the bracket plate L and as being adapted to engage against the upper end wall 7 of said slot to limit rotary movement of the rod in a direction opposite to the direction "will apply to both, as follows:

The hemisphericaleyeshell 9 has a notch 10 in one side thereof through which projects the supporting rod G, said notch be- 111g intended to permit ample swinging movement of the shell upon a vertical pivot as will be presently described. I

An attaching member 11 is arranged at the rear of the shell 9 and consists of what will be termed a main flat plate portion 12 and a stem portion 13. The plate portion 12 extendsvertically across the rear open side of the shell and has pivotal extension parts 141-44 formed at its upper and lower ends extending through bearing apertures 1515 provided to receive them in the shell 9.

The stem portion 13 projects laterally from the plate portion 12 and is shown as comprising a tubular sleeve adapted, to t ele-' scope over the supporting rod G, the plate portion being preferably formed with a groove 16 therein so as to provide; unob structed longitudinal movementof the sleeve alon the supporting rod while yetdisposing t e pivotupartsld-J in a common substantially vertical" plane with the-axial centre of the rod G.. '10

The stem or sleeve'13 is formedfro'm sheet metal bent into tubular shape but the edges are preferably not fixedly connected together. The sleeve is normally of a slightly 'less internal diameter than the external dior rotatabl ameter of the supporting rod and inust therefore'be expanded when. beingforce'd .onto the rod. Sufiicient friction is thus generated to retain the sleeve in anyposition to'which it isadjusted either longitudinally upon the rod.

The bearings 15-15 in the eye shell are so disposed that said bearing apertures stand '7 in a common substantially vertical plane with the axial centre of the supporting rod and the spherical centre of the shell in order that no appreciable bodily displacement of the shell will accompany rotary movement of the shell. when the shell swings.about the vertical axis provided by thQPZLItS 14 and 15 or the horizontal axis provided by rod Gr.

Longitudinal movement of the attaching 7 member along the supporting rod will of Ill] course, correspondingly move the eye shells to and away from each other along said rod to properly mate with the eye openings of a doll head, and since both shells are connected with the same supporting rod both shells will'of course rotate in unison during all opening and closing movements of the eyes.

Fixed to the rear of the shell is an exten sion 17 which depends from the, shell and carries a weight .18 at or near its lower end,

' from which it will be seen that by moving the doll from an upright to a reclining position the weight will swing from its normal position as'in Fig. 2 backwardly by gravity and thus cause the e es to move from its open .to its closed position in the customary manner. 1

In its normal position the weight is held by the arm 1 against swinging downwardly to a position directly vertically beneath the '3 supporting rod G since in this way the right or left whether the doll be in a upright positionor a partly or wholly reclining position. a v

The'extension 17 is formed with'afreduced neck portion 19 or other suitable-means by which it may be readilybent by ay'vorlnnan in order to dispose the iiveight at the most suitable and advantageous p'osition'with re- I spect to the eye shell and the, 1. In order to insure against possible diflerences in extent or time'of rollingmovement of one eye with respect to the other it is preferable that they be connected together and for this purpose the drawing herewith illustrates a connecting link as 20-which has its opposite ends piyotally connected as at 21 and 22 with the lower end portions of the extensions 17, said pivotal connections a being sufliciently loose to permit of all necessary adjustments of the extensions orfthe eyes rotatably or longitudinally along the Eli supporting rod as well as to. permit of unobstructed swinging-of the extensions at all times.

The structure as thus far described is in most part identical with that shown and described in the mentioned pending application. Itis contemplated however by the presentinvention to construct the'eye shell 9 substantially wholly of celluloid and to provide a novel form of means by which the gravity control extension 1718 may be connected with the. eye shells of celluloid or the like. Important requisites to this end V are that the extensions shall be firmly and rigidly connected with the shells, that no difficult or impractical bending or shaping of the celluloidrmaterial shall be required, that'no tendency shall be present to distort the relative flimsy celluloid material and that the attaching means shall be simple and efficient and yet capable of easy andv cheap production and application.

To this end the drawing suggests that a ring shaped member as 23 of metal be pro vided, said member being. of U-shape in cross section and adapted therebv to straddle about the rear annular edge portion of the celluloid shelllthe ring beinglpreferably dis- .continued as at 24-24. adjacent opposite sides ofthe notch -10 so as not to interfere with the functionlof said notch, it being,

here noted that the bottom wall of the notch is intended to abut against the cross, rod, or against the sleeve 13, to limit rolling movement of the shell in one direction, rolling 'movement in the opposite direction being limited bycorresponding engagement of the second eye shell against its adjacent sleeve 13, the connecting link 20'serving always to communicate the stoppage to the-first eye.

The metallic ring 23 ispreferably formed of sheet metal bent into u-cros ssection, and it is also preferably, although not necessarily, formed as an integral part of the material comprising extension 17, the extension 17 being in any event however firmly connected with the ring.

It is'intended that the opposite leg portions as and 26 of the ring shall be pressed toward each other sufliciently to firmly clamp themselves upon the intervening edge portion of the celluloid shell so that said shell and ring are thus permanently connected together.

By this means the ring not only serves as a connecting means by which toattach the 4 extension 17 to the celluloid shell but also :onstitutes an elficient re-inforcing element of the shell serving to greatly strengthen the shell and hold it against possible distortion out of its intended true hemispherical shape.

It thus insures retention of the bearings 15 always in proper position to receive and to correctly support upon the pivot parts 14, and it constitutes a very pleasing and attractive finish for the rear of the eye str .icture.

In practice it is found that the celluloid shell, prior to the attachment of the reinforcing ring 23 thereonto is capable of easy manual distortion suflicient to enable the convenient insertion of the pivot parts 14: Within the bearing openings 15 thereof,

and that the re-inforcing ring may be at-- tached to the shell after said-pivot parts have been inserted within the bearing openings, thus efliciently preventing any subsequent accidental detachment of the pivot parts from the bearing openings.

.It should be mentioned however that th re-inforcing rin 23 may if desired .be made sufficiently elastic to permit flexing thereof along with the shell to enable assembly of the pivot parts within-the bearings 15, the,

resiliency of the material of said ring serving to insure return of the ring and shell to their normal circular contour and the consequent proper retention-of the within the bearings.

While the use of celluloideye shells and re;inforcing rings of metal connected thereto are here shown as being employed in connection .with eyes which have a rolling motion as well as an opening and closing pivot parts motion, it is not to be understood however that the invention is in any wise limited to use in connection with such eyes, as obviously the re-inforcing value of the ring is present irrespective of what movement the eyes may have, or even whether they are ins' tended to move oinot, and also irrespective of whether or not the rings are used as an attaching medium for a gravity control.

-While the re-inforcing rings are particularly designed and intended for use in connection, with eye shells made of celluloid, it is nevertheless not intended that this invention shall be limited to the use of 'cellu loid, as obviously the re-inforcing rings may present some orall of their advantages as loid is used in forming the eye shells, as for instance eye shells of thin sheet metal may be materially improved by the presence of such rings- I As many changes could be made in this construction Without 'departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings,'shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters' Patent is v I 1. An eye shell formed of celluloid and having a re-inforcing element thereon substantially encircling its rear annular edge portion, said shell bein 01 hemispherical form open at its rear si e to accommodate mentioned even if other material than eellusupporting means projecting into the shell, 7

and said re;inforcing element being of a' general ring shape open. at its centre to thereby aflord unobstructed access into the rear open end of said shell.

- 2. An artificial eye comprising a hemispherical eye shell of celluloid open at its rear side to accommodatesupporting means projecting into the shell and having an annular rear edge portion, and a metallic reinforcing element fixed to said annular edge portion of a formpermitting free accessinto the rear open end of said shell, said re-inforcing element having portions standing in engagement with both the inner and outer spherical surfaces ofthe shell.

3. An artificial eye comprising a hemispherical eye shelliof celluloid openfat its rear side to accommodate supporting means projecting into the shell and having an annular rear edge portion, and a re-inforci'ng element fixed to said rear edge portion comprising a metallicvring having opposite leg parts straddling said edge portion and being bent into tight clamping engagement with 5. An artificial eye comprising hemi-i spherical eye shell of celluloid having ant annular rear edge portion, a gravity C01}:

trol member for said shell, and said gravity control member having an integral part bent and. disposed to constitute a re-inforcing "spherical eye shell having an annular rear ring of U-cross section straddling the rear edge portion of said shell and fixed thereto.

6. An artificial eye comprising a hemispherical eye shell of celluloid having an annular rear edge portion and having bearing openings, the shell being flexible to facilitate its temporary distortion'to enable insertion'of supporting means into said-bearing openings, a ring shaped re-inforcing member for said annular edge portion, and means whereby the re-inforcing ring may be con-4 nectedwith the shell in a manner to retain the shell against flexing out of engagement with saidsupportingmeans. 1

7. An artificial eye comprising a hemi- I 'edge portion, said shell being formed of flexible material likely to become distorted,

and a. separately formed ring shaped rein-.1 .0 forcing member fixed tosaid annulan-edge T portion and extending about both the inner cally disposed openings therethrough adjacent the rear edge portion and the material of the shell being readily distortable out of its true hemispherical contouryto thereby permit introduction of eyesupporting means into aid openings, a separately formed reportion, and means whereby there inforcing member'may be connected with'the'shell to retain it againstdetachment from said sup-' ror g meei i -In'tes'tirnony whereo'f'l afiix my signature.

lsmnnn MARCUS.

,inforcing memberfor said annular edge 

